Back on the Bike After 4 Days Off

I took a long weekend to travel to Iowa for Mother’s Day, visiting family there. I was off the bike those 4 days. That feels like forever.

This morning as I took off shortly after 5 am, I felt like a young colt in the spring, full of energy and my legs just wanting to go. I was slightly unstable for about a mile as I reacquainted myself with the bike, but then was flying along in the absolutely beautiful morning. The ride started in the dark, and I was treated to a glorious sunrise. I rode east into the rising sun as much as possible just to watch the colors change. By the time I arrived at the Rusty Bridge, the color was gone and the sky was getting sufficiently bright that even lights were unnecessary to see the road. We still kept them on to increase our visibility.

We had about 9 riders out this morning, and we broke naturally into several groups. I found myself alone at the top of Old County Road, ahead of the others who skipped Askewton’s loop, and racing to not be caught by those who did the loop. I did reach the end of the trail before the Askewton Loop riders. That meant about 3-4 miles of anaerobic exercise, attempting to maintain about 20 mph. It felt pretty good to push that after so many days off the bike.

It was a more relaxed pace headed north on the trail, and we all regrouped at the coffee shop. Overall it was a quick morning, not the fastest this year, but still pretty quick.

It is decision time now. Do I start getting up earlier than 4:30 to get more miles in each morning? I’ve got to get miles in my legs.

Bible Verses of the Day:

But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” (Exodus 17:3 NRSV)

One of them named Agabus stood up and predicted by the Spirit that there would be a severe famine over all the world; and this took place during the reign of Claudius. (Acts 11:28 NRSV)